No arrests made in home invasion

Charleston Police said no arrests had been made by late Friday in the Wednesday night break-in at a North Charleston home by two men who were allegedly posing as police officers.

According to Lt. Steve Cooper, chief of detectives for Charleston police, the men approached a home on the 3100 block of Fourth Avenue in North Charleston around 7 p.m. Wednesday and told the two men inside they were police officers and had a warrant to search their home. Once inside, the suspects knocked Robert Kennedy, 54, and Lloyd Daniels, 72, to the ground, zip-tied their hands and covered their heads with a quilt.

“Crimes like these are typically not random,” Cooper said.

“People may get information that you have a certain type of drug in your house; it can be a variety of circumstances. Sometimes these are people who know each other or there may be nefarious activity going on, though we’re not saying that’s the case here.”

The assailants stole $4,500, a food stamp card and roughly 60 oxycodone pills from the victims, police said. According to Cooper, both Kennedy and Daniels had valid prescriptions for the pills. A witness saw the suspects leave the scene carrying a pillowcase filled with something and went to check on the victims, where they were found still restrained. “He found them in that condition and was able to cut them free,” Cooper said. Both victims told police they did not recognize their assailants. Police are looking for two white men, one about 5 feet 9 inches tall and 150 pounds with reddish hair, the other slightly taller and about 200 pounds, with a mustache, Cooper said. Police do not believe there was a weapon involved in the assault, and witnesses said the men fled in a white Chevrolet Impala.

According to Cooper, home invasions in which perpetrators impersonate police officers are rare. One of the suspects was reportedly wearing a hat that said “police,” but Cooper said anyone suspicious of an officer should ask to see credentials. “Law enforcement officers will generally have a badge and identification,” he said. “To have a hat that just says ‘police’ is not something we would generally use as our only means of identification. This is a rare type of occurrence, and it heightens our concern because they’ve identified themselves as police officers and impersonated police officers, and that’s always a very dangerous situation.” Anyone with information is asked to call the Charleston Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division at 304-348-6480.